Mark Alleyne was born in London, brought up in Barbados and returned to England as a teenager. Primarily a middle-order batsman and medium-pace bowler, Alleyne made his first-class debut in 1986, becoming the youngest player to score a century in just his eighth first-class game; in 1990 he followed by becoming the youngest to hit a double century.

In 1997 he represented England in a Cricket Max tournament in New Zealand, and as his captaincy success with Gloucestershire brought him considerable attention, he was picked to lead England A in Bangladesh and New Zealand in 1999-2000, and again in 2001 in the Caribbean. By then he had made the first of his ten ODI appearances, with the highlight coming against South Africa in East London in 1999-2000 when he took 3 for 55 and scored 53.

But it was at county level he really made his mark, forming a most effective partnership with coach John Bracewell. In 1999 and 2000 Gloucestershire won five one-day titles, including back-to-back victories in both knockout competitions as well as the National League as part of a remarkable treble in 2000, a summer in which they also came within a whisker of earning promotion into the County Championship Division One.

Alleyne stood down from the captaincy in 2003 to take over as player-coach following the departure of Bracewell, but he continued to take the helm in limited-overs cricket. He retired at the end of 2005, a sad finale as the county were relegated in both the Championship and National League. He stood down as coach by mutual consent in February 2008 with nine months of his contract remaining, but was appointed MCC head coach at the beginning of 2009.

Martin Williamson February 2009